By Amy Cockerham
Public Ed Works
WINSTON-SALEM (May 22, 2025) – The budget proposed by the NC House aims to invest $2.6 million in a nursing fellows pilot program at Winston-Salem State University to combat the state’s nursing shortage.1
Much like the state’s Teaching Fellows program, the funds would go toward forgivable loans that won’t have to be repaid if certain conditions are met.
The money would be available to students pursuing a Bachelors of Science in Nursing or Master of Science in Nursing Education who then become a licensed registered nurse or an instructor at a community college or university in North Carolina.
To be eligible, a student must enroll at WSSU in the 2026-2027 or 2027-2028 academic year. The forgivable loans could amount to up to $5,000 per semester or $2,500 per summer session.2
Research by the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina found that by 2033, North Carolina faces an estimated shortage of nearly 12,500 registered nurses.
So health leaders are hopeful legislators will intervene by implementing programs like the one proposed at WSSU.
“Winston-Salem State University has a proud legacy of rising to meet the challenges of its time and today that means addressing North Carolina’s critical nursing shortage,” said WSSU Chancellor Bonita Brown.
“This $2.6 million investment in WSSU’s nursing fellows’ program is a bold, strategic response that supports not only the social mobility of our students but also the health of our communities.”
Cone Health, a not-for-profit health care network, serves people in Alamance, Forsyth, Guilford, Randolph, Rockingham and surrounding counties. Vi-Anne Antrum is the Chief Nursing Officer there.
“We have several hundred openings for nurses,” Antrum said. “There is always an ongoing need for our nursing workforce.”
Antrum said with other health care networks around like Novant Health and Atrium Health, and other providers in need too, competition can be tough.
“There’s technology companies, long-term facilities, ambulatory networks, virtual care,” Antrum said. “There’s a lot of places that are pining for nurses to become a part of their workforce.”
Antrum said unfavorable hours and a changing public perception of the difficulty of the job could be reasons why hospitals are seeing fewer and fewer nurses.
“People don’t stop being sick on holidays or on weekends,” Antrum said.
She said Cone Health already works directly with WSSU to recruit, and this program could help.
“I think sometimes the financials of going to school can be a barrier for people. But if they have the ability to come out without a lot of debt on the back end, it really opens up that opportunity to more people,” Antrum said.
Antrum said she’ll be looking to legislators to approve the program this session and others like it in the future.
“No one wants to be part of causing hospitals to have to close, right?” Antrum said.
“Having care not be accessible in the communities across the state and across this country, nobody’s going to benefit from that, and so from a policy and legislation standpoint, making sure that we’re thinking like that. How are we going to make sure that when people need the care, that it’s available? And that is by funding nursing.”
Chancellor Brown stressed the support for aspiring nurses.
“Reducing the debt burden for aspiring nurses paves the way for better graduate outcomes and a more stable workforce,” she said. “As nurses take care of us, we must take care of them – and this nursing fellows program does just that.”
For previous coverage of the nursing shortage facing our state, click here.
1 https://webservices.ncleg.gov/ViewNewsFile/104/House_Committee_Report_2025-05-19, p. 62/B35.
2 https://webservices.ncleg.gov/ViewNewsFile/105/S257-CSMQxfrapH-1_v34, pp. 212-215.
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